Making Sense of Google Wave

Google Wave is one of the most ambitious product launches of 2009. It’s also the one most likely to make you say, “I don’t get it.” Wave’s hyped elevator pitch is that it reinvents email for the modern web, but that’s an oversimplification. Wave combines document collaboration and instant messaging into a single workspace, whose live moving cursors and non-linear nature can melt brains. Wave is a hit with programmers, but what about regular people? This talk will peel away Google Wave’s hype, explain the bold paradigm shift Wave requires its users to make, and breaks down when and why Wave does (and doesn’t) make sense.